Volunteer army builds homes for US wounded heroes

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"A charity, construction companies, and other volunteers have begun building free houses for some of the more than 1,600 military personnel in the US who have had limbs amputated after being injured in explosions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By any reasonable estimation, US marine Sgt Kenny Lyon should be dead.

His buddies told him that the mortar landed just 9ft (2.7m) behind him on the day he was hurt in 2006 in Iraq.

Doctors told his family that he would most likely die and, if not, his head injury was so severe - a 3in (7.5cm) diameter chunk of his forehead was blown away) - that, at best, he would have no personality.


Kenny says walking and standing on his leg is like sitting on an unpadded bicycle seat that is set too high

But Kenny did not die. He lost his left leg above the knee, and except for parts of his right leg, there is not a place on his body without gruesome scars.

And his personality was left intact. He is a relentlessly upbeat 25-year-old who knows well that while his life is difficult, it is better than being dead.

Two years after being blown up, Kenny and his marine friend Steven Kiernan, who lost both of his legs, decided they needed to get out of military housing and into an apartment.

The problem was there were not many apartments suitable for two guys who only have one leg between them."
 
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